30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, May 16, 2010

To Bust or Not To Bust...

Some of my favorite autographs are from the Topps Retired series, which were produced in 2003, 2004, and 2005. All of them have on-card autographs and were encapsulated in holders with a Topps seal. Recently, I picked up a three of these autographs off of Beckett. The first one is a Dave Stieb autograph from the 2004 set. Next is another 2004 autograph of Wally Joyner. And last, but not least is a Joe Rudi autograph from the 2003 set.Since, I purchased these off of Beckett, I wasn't able to see what the cards looked like beforehand. And unfortunately, both of the 2004 autographs had scratched holders. Luckily, the Joe Rudi case was in decent (not perfect, but acceptable) condition.So that brings me to my first question. Would you bust these cards out of their holders if the holders are scratched?

I personally debated the issue for about 30 seconds, before I popped the Stieb and Joyner out of their scratched cases. Here's what went through my little brain:

Pros of busting:

1. They're part of my PC, so I want to be able to appreciate the autographs without looking at scratches.Cons of busting:

1. They're no longer in their original holders.

2. If I decide to ever part ways with these, people may not want them since they're not in their original holders.Well... that's it. Those were my arguments and so I decided to bust, but now I'm wondering if I made a mistake.

What would you have done?Does anyone have any other arguments either for or against busting these out of their holders?

By the way, I kept the Rudi in the original holder, since it was in decent condition. But I'll be honest, there's a part of me that wants to set him free too.

1 comment:

Great question. I have a Melky Cabrera Bowmans Chrom Auto (My fav current Yankee before they traded him). It came in wone of those sealed cases too. I let it in there. I like the holo seal, but that's me.

It seems like you really wanted to see your cards in clear cases. So you made the right choice. Thats one of the great things about the hobby. Everyone can enjoy what they like and the way they want to.

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I've been collecting cardboard off and on since the early 80's. I'm presently collecting. But who knows what the future holds in store for me.
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